Elegance and Simplicity of a Black and White Mood Board

the elegant sophistication of Black and white

Ahhhh, the elegant simplicity of black and white. I love creating mood boards because of my design background. I gain more confidence with each minimal painting because there is nowhere to hide on the canvas.

As most accomplishments in life, it takes a lot of practice and effort into creating the one painting that I love. For example, a songwriter does not create number one hits each time, or an author does not write best selling novels each try, but with my ongoing dedication to continue painting, I achieve that exhilarating feeling of “I love this” more frequently. An extra bonus is that I don’t have to hear this from other people to find the value in my art. It comes from within and others can sense this in me and my paintings.

Using black and white allows me to focus on the essence of design with shapes, lines and the value contrast of positive and negative space without being influenced by colour or any unnecessary elements. All the principles of art come into play intuitively as I am reacting to each previous brushstroke and marks - balance, rhythm, pattern, emphasis, contrast, unity and movement. Texture can be introduced into these paintings, but as a secondary element, from the build-up of the layers, the edges of the flow of paint, or marks made within the layers after.

The minimal black and white artwork which evolves is a sophisticated and timeless style that fits easily in a variety of interiors from contemporary to traditional. The high contrast between light and dark can be dramatic, dynamic and engaging, as well as the opposite in soft, flowing and calming compositions.

Do you like to create in black and white? What limitations do you put on a project to dive deeper?

Some of my expressive Black and White Paintings:

Uncredited sources of the mood board photos. Over the years I have collected many photos from magazines, personal photos, images saved and printed from Pinterest, etc. If I have used a photo and you know of the person that should be credited, please let me know and I will note that in my blog. Thank you.